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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Aya Walksfar Interview

We welcome to our Books that Thrill Section Aya Walksfar, mystery novelist! She is the author of several books including the one reviewed, Sketch of a Murder.

Tell us a little bit
about yourself.

My childhood was a chaos of poverty and violence. My
grandfather, who was completely illiterate, and my grandmother, who could
barely read and write, provided a way, and the encouragement, for me to learn
to read and write by age 6. Between them and a Carnegie librarian, I began a
true love affair with the written word.

I published my first series of articles in a newspaper at
the age of 14. After that, I published poems, short stories, and articles in a
variety of venues.

In 2002, the first edition of my literary novel, Good
Intentions, won the Alice B. Reader Award for Excellence. In 2013, Mountain
Springs House publisher brought out a full-length murder mystery, Sketch of a
Murder, the first of a series; a stand-alone novella titled Dead Men and Cats;
as well as the second edition of Good Intentions.

What would people who
know you best say is your greatest character strength?

Actually, they would probably say it is my greatest
character strength and my greatest character defect: tenacity—or you could call
it bullheaded stubbornness.

What is the most
interesting job you have ever had?

Other than writing, I would have to say it is my day job:
designer and manager of a wildlife habitat.

You’ve been granted
three wishes by a genie, what’s the first one you wish for?

That my wife, Deva, should always know that she is the
keystone of my life.

You are stuck on a
desert island with only one book and one movie. (Fortunately this desert island
has electricity and a DVD player.) Which book and which movie do you choose?

Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet. This powerful book challenges
me to think deeper about the ‘big questions’ in life, like love and sorrow.
Sister Act 1 makes me laugh. And, I love Whoopi Goldberg.

What are you most
passionate about?

Using words to entertain, and to bring about positive
change.

Tell us a little bit
about your book.

Take a female police sergeant, whose best
friend has recently been murdered when a reporter cared more about a scoop than
a good cop’s life, place her with a superior who carries a trainload of guilt
since his cop-daughter was killed in the line of duty, then add in a pushy,
lesbian reporter.

Now, mix in a team of independent, misfit
cops who have managed to tick off their superiors enough to merit being
relegated to the Siberia of law enforcement, the Special Crimes Team.

Add one serial killer, self-dubbed The
Avenger, who is targeting wealthy, prominent men who have skated out from under
sexual assault charges.

Blend well and watch the blood fly!

The question is: can these disparate people work
together to save an innocent man from being the killer’s next victim? This is a
character driven murder mystery told from multiple, first person points of
view, including the killer’s.

Is this book part of
a series or is it a stand-alone novel?

This is Book 1 of the Special Crimes Team series; however,
each book can be read as a stand-alone. Read as a series the reader can watch
the development of the characters.

Was there an event or
person that inspired your idea for this book and who or what was it?

At the age of 9, my grandfather was murdered, and his killer
never brought to justice. Since that time, I have seen people commit crimes and
walk away due to a technicality, or just having the money to buy the best
lawyer.That planted the seed.

Which book of yours
are you most proud of? Why?

Good Intentions. In Good Intentions I explore the
ramifications of family secrets. Several people have emailed or spoken privately
to me to let me know that my book touched them in some way, helped them to come
to terms with their lives.

I am still working on defining those. Right now, I am
learning to use social media to connect with my readers, and other authors.
Being a technosaur makes this a challenging endeavor.

I have a Facebook profile page where I post Biker Granny
Motorcycle Philosophy; updates on my work; articles and videos that I find online
and feel are important, such as UpWorthy’s sharing of the video “Sweetie” and
things my readers specifically request, such as book recommendations/reviews. http://www.facebook.com/ayawalksfar

On my blog are individual pages for each of my novels on
which I post reviews, comments, character interviews and other things of
interest.I love to share the work of
other authors by interviewing and/or reviewing their novels. There are also
articles of interest to writers and non-writers as well as short stories.http://www.ayawalksfar.com

Pinterest is a new endeavor. I post photographs of places
mentioned in my novels, such as Mount Baker where The Avenger is cornered in Sketch
of a Murder;places that are important
to my characters like Mount Vernon which is Sergeant Nita Slowater’s hometown;
inspiring quotes I’ve found, and, of course, wonderful photographs of animals. http://www.pinterest.com/ayawalksfar

Book Goodies

Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

Creeping Sharia

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About Me

Gunnar Angel Lawrence is a native Floridian with a love for evoking raw emotions through writing. He writes thrillers, horror and whatever genre his muse demands he write. He is single and lives in St Cloud, Florida.

He is the author of Fair Play and The Perfect Day, crime thrillers set in Orlando, Florida. He is the nerd you picked on in high school and he's going to put you in a book and kill you, if he hasn't already.

He is currently working on The Consortium, the sequel to The Perfect Day, due out sometime in 2015, but we all know how flexible release dates are.